Men are far less satisfied than women with the amount of holiday they get at work, with private sector workers more dissatisfied than their public sector counterparts, new research reveals.
A poll of 472 public and private sector employees found that only four in 10 men are “very satisfied” with their holiday entitlement, compared with two-thirds of women.
The gap between the public and private sectors is also significant; more than two-thirds (68%) of public sector employees are “very satisfied” with their holiday entitlement, compared with just 42% in the private sector, the IFF Attitudes to Work research showed.
Both men and women place equal importance on the amount of holiday they get with about half of both sexes believing it is “very important” as part of their overall benefits package.
Jan Shury, joint managing director at IFF Research, who headed the study explained that one of the reasons for the disparity could be that women tend to occupy more part-time positions than men.
She said: “As part-time workers spend a greater amount of time away from work they appear to be more comfortable with the amount of holiday they have.
“What’s clear is that, of all the benefits we get at work, the amount of holiday is seen as one of the most important. In this era of wage restraint and cutbacks, employers looking to reward their staff could choose to extend holiday allowances, although they will of course need to be mindful that once holiday entitlement has been increased it is very difficult to reverse.”
An IRS survey of annual leave entitlement at 149 employers last year found a median entitlement to paid holidays (excluding bank and public holidays) of 25 days per year.
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